Elric in the Dream Realms - Michael Moorcock [110]
KING GROME: “A morsel to distract me from my pain? You fail to understand the importance of this matter. We are doomed unless you bring me the blade. You must bring me the blade! All are imperiled!”
FIRST PUKWADJI: “A morsel is all we can offer, great king of the earth. We are too weak to defeat the Mernii intruders. We are sorry we bartered the black blade.”
GROME: “You will perish. I will punish you. King Grome still has his powers! And his pride.”
Flashback of the Mernii ships breaking through dimensions onto a river. As the Mernii run for it, Grome buries all the ships, including the river, under huge mounds of earth…
But Grome is hungry, too …
GROME: “Oh, very well, give me the morsel …”
Elric is thrown down to Grome who catches him expertly with his strange, earthy, rooty hand.
GROME: “What bloodless thing is this?”
ELRIC: “I can assure you, your majesty, that I am better conversation than I am a canapé.”
Grome continues to lift Elric towards his gaping maw.
GROME: “That blade brings doom upon the world. Unless I can put it back in the rock from which it was taken.”
ELRIC: “I’ll strike a bargain with you. Let me explain this to my people. Surely they purchased the black blade for a special reason.”
GROME (now hesitates and thinks): “Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”
Grome returns Elric to the ground, releasing his bonds.
Puzzled Pukwadji return Elric’s bow and arrows, etc. Set him on his way, scowling and unsure.
SHAMAN: “But if you fail to keep your bargain with him, King Grome will find you and eat you wherever you hide. Go!”
ELRIC: “I doubt my own folk will welcome me much more warmly.”
Elric now approaches a mountain which those with sharp eyes might notice to resemble the contours of the Isle of Melniboné. On the side of this (where the harbour is now) stands a very elaborate and wealthy camp, protected by a tall, wooden fence. Within the compound are wigwam-style tents, very tall, with slender lodge poles and cowled tops. They are versions of the towers of Melniboné. A young Mernii guard looks at Elric with a mixture of humour and contempt.
GUARD: “Good afternoon, renegade. Have you received an order to return …?”
ELRIC: “No, kinsman, but I come in some urgency.”
Within the camp, which has a temporary quality to it, Elric is greeted by a group of aggressive young men.
LEADER (of aggressive young men): “Renegade! Our king is too lenient.”
ELRIC: “A pleasant day, Tvarim Kha.”
TVARIM KHA: “Both you and he deserve to die!”
But Elric pushes past them. They are glowering, reaching towards their swords.
Wearing the iron-feathered crown of kingship, King Varnik is still relatively young and fit. He is clearly White Crow’s elder brother. He turns an unwelcoming gaze on Elric as he arrives in the big wigwam. The black blade (sans runes) is laid on a sort of altar, guarded by tall, grim Mernii (Melnibonéans). It appears to be a lance-blade and there is a half-moon fitting at the top, supposedly for a shaft, but actually it is where the throbbing scarlet Actorios stone should sit.
KING VARNIK: “You return early from your banishment, sir trickster…”
ELRIC: “Brother, I am hoping to end a war destroying both sides. How can we get our ships back and let them have the black blade?”
Varnik is interested.
ELRIC: “Grome will destroy the dwarves if they do not return the blade.”
VARNIK: “Let him destroy them. Without the blade we’ll have no means of pursuing our journey. The loss of the ships was terrible, but we can’t give them back the blade.”
ELRIC: “Destroying the dwarves, Grome will then begin killing us. Until he has the blade …”
VARNIK: “The blade has a special purpose. Our people will not survive without it. We must keep it.”
ELRIC: “Will you still need it when it has performed this purpose?”
VARNIK: “Need it or not, it is ours by tradition. We’ll never return it.”
ELRIC: “So we’ll never see our ships again, and yet the blade will be useless until we regain the Actorios